A Matter of Survival
by GreenJollyRancher33
Summary: Just ignore this. Two OCs meet and escape from S.T.O.R.M.


When she came to, she was unable to move, much less comprehend what was happening. She was only able to realize two things before she fell unconscious again. One, that she certainly wasn't in the Lowlands anymore. And, two, that someone was talking.

When she woke up again, it felt as if she had slept for about a week. Her limbs were numb and she still felt tired. But, unlike before, she had control over her senses. And, even in her mind muddled state, she could figure out that she had been kidnapped.

She was lying on her side in a painfully white room. The icy floor greeted her with her own reflection. It showed her, lying on her side, done up in rope. If she hadn't seen it for herself, she might have moved and ended up figuring it out the hard way. And she was only able to guess that the large gray rectangle in the wall behind her was the door. She wondered if they were dumb enough to leave it locked.

Terry wasn't alone either. Another girl lay on the other side of the room. She, too, was tied up. She appeared to be older, as well as unconscious. Terry silently found that they were in a yin and yan position a little amusing.

Terry sighed and closed her eyes. Might as well try and focus on getting out for the moment. She would-hopefully-have time to worry about her companion's background later.

_Relax. . ._She silently reminded herself of her training with her grandmother. _Relax. . .The more you resist, the tighter the rope gets. . ._Slowly and carefully, Terry wriggled her way out of her restraints.

Once the rope was loose enough, she sat up and shrugged it off. As the rope fell from her form, Terry noted the ache in her joints. Just how long had she been out?

She got to her feet and stretched. As she had expected, her sore joints weren't of any comfort. She allowed her arms to return to her sides with a sigh.

"Who's. . .there?"

"Don't worry," Terry said as she continued to undo the knots holding her companion immobile, "I'm just as confused as you are.". She swore she heard the girl laugh lightly as she mumbled, "Then shouldn't we worry more?". Terry paused before a smile of her own made its own onto her face. "I guess so," she answered and she resumed her battle against the rope.

"Any idea where we are," the girl asked as she rolled her shoulder, testing it. "Sorry," Terry grinned grimly, "I have no clue where we could be!". The girl sighed and leaned back against the painfully white wall. Staring up into oblivion, she muttered, "The last thing I remember is getting into a fight with Charlemagne's lapdog! Vertigo landed on me and then. . .". The girl trailed off as realization hit both girls. In unison, the two hung their heads and sighed. "That explains so much," she muttered and Terry laughed lightly, "It makes sense when you think about it, doesn't it?".

"Oh," her companion said, "I don't even know your name!". Raising her head, Terry noticed that the girl had raised her hand to shake. "Rose," the girl grinned, "I'm Rose Ace!". Terry stared at the hand for a second before a grin spread on her own face. "I'm Terry," she took the hand and shook it, "Nice to meet you, Rose!". As her hand returned to her side, Rose's grin became rather pained as she laughed lightly, "Its sad that we had to meet like this, huh?". "It really is," Terry giggled at the irony of the situation.

"So," Rose grinned, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but, why are _you_ here?". "Oh," Terry grinned as she began to stroke one of her low pigtails, "I was. . .looking for someone. I guess I got bad luck.". "Jeredy," Rose asked simply and Terry flinched. "How did you," she breathed as she eyed the other teen and Rose laughed, "You didn't freak out when I mentioned Vertigo or Charlemagne! Not to mention anyone who knows about monsuno knows about Jeredy!". Terry winced before smiling painfully, "I guess you got me there!". Rose laughed at her slip-up.

"So," Rose grinned as she stood up, "lets get out of here! Then we can have talk over a nice cup of tea!". "Any strategies," Terry raised an eyebrow up at her, to which Rose simply said, "Nope!". Terry grinned to herself and responded with, "Then I'll have green tea, if you don't mind.".

_Doom!_

As soon as the door had crashed into the wall, two grunts peeked into the doorway, guns at the ready. One was tackled to the floor with a grunt as the other received a knee to the gut. After the grunt had fallen to floor, Rose glanced over at her companion as she ended her match with the grunt she had tackled. With one hand on the grunt's chin and the other on the top of his head, the teen forced his head to snap, knocking him out.

As Terry stood, Rose grinned at the brunette's back, "Impressive! Where'd you learn how to do that?". Terry glanced over her shoulder and laughed lightly, "I-Its just a matter of survival, I guess!". Rose nodded, unaware as to how she had actually learned how to knock someone out. Now they needed to focus on finding their things and getting out of there!

Which was actually a lot easier than either of them thought.

To avoid contact with the several guards storming the halls, the two had fled into the safety of the air ducts. Now the only danger they had to worry about was if one of them farted.

It took them about half an hour but they finally found the room that their stuff was in. Well, the entrance to it at least. And, thankfully, neither of them had given away their position until then. Unfortunately, the vent didn't run over the room itself, giving them only one option.

Being in front, Rose was the one who had to kick the door down. The shaft fell to the floor with a loud _clang_, attracting the guards' attention. Rose hopped through the opening, followed by Terry, into the sea of guards waiting below.

Standing back to back with hundreds of guards surrounding them, Rose muttered over her shoulder, "How many do you think you can take?". "Half,," came her answer, "maybe more if I don't get hit.". "Then we'll be fine," Rose grinned, unaware her companion was grinning herself.

"So, what're you going to do now?"

"Hm," Terry raised her head and met Rose's gaze. "Oh," the brunette grinned and scratched the back of her head, "I guess I'll keep looking for Jeredy! I still owe him for giving me Levi!". "Levi," Rose perked, to which Terry held up a blue core, "Leviathan. He's a jellyfish monsuno. Jeredy gave him to me while he was staying in our village.". "Yours, too," Rose grinned and she laughed, "Yeah! He was dying of frost bite when I found him!". "Frost bite," Rose raised an eyebrow at the idea and asked, "Where are you from, anyways?". "Uh," Terry averted her gaze as she nervously grinned, "Gongaga.".

"You mean the Village of Demons?"

"Yeah, that one."

Rose paused before she laughed, "I thought you had to have some sort of cruel background to be able to take out all those guards! And that takes the cake!". Terry watched her in bewilderment, causing Rose to ask, "What?". "You," Terry breathed, "You're not. . .afraid of me?". "'Course not," Rose grinned, "I mean, you just helped me! Why would I be?". Terry stared at her for a moment before a grin spread on her own face. After years of thinking any outsider would fear her if she told them, Rose's answer was refreshing.

"But I wouldn't go telling that to just anyone, you know."

"Yeah. . ."

Both girls perked as a loud beastly roar filled the area. They both had a pretty good idea what it was making that noise was, too. "I guess we should get going, huh," Rose grinned grimly and Terry laughed warily, "Yeah, Charlemagne's going to kill us if she finds us!".

"Hey," Terry paused just as she was about to take her leave and turned back towards Rose. The brunette was smiling as she said, "I still owe you that green tea, you know!". Terry reflected her grin as she agreed, "I can't wait!".

And with that, the two girls parted, unaware they were after the same man.


End file.
